Page 475

27e W   acusin Limberman,
fiends are now candid enough to acknow-
ledge the advantages that are to accrue to
the mercantile classes from the refusal of
northwestern farmers last fall to place
their main crop out of their hands at the
speculators' own prices. When the MIL-
WAUKEE JOURNAL or COMMERCE advised
the producers to sell only wheat enough to
pay their debts and to hold the rest until
the world wanted it, we were assailed by
much admirable protectors of northwestern
interests as the Nation, the N. Y. Tribune,
the Springfield Republican and nearly all
the eastern commercial papers. These
journals warned us that wEe mere ruiningihe
farmers by enticing them to hold
wheat in the fall that they would be obliged
to give away in the spring, that we were
mining merchants by keeping their farmer
customers from paying their debts. It now
appears, according to the Nation, that the
farmers of the northwest as a general
thing paid their debts as they went along,
asthe MILWAUKEE JOURNAL or COMMERCE
admonished them to do, and that the mer-
chants of the country are the immediate
gainers from the circumstance that the
farmers waited to sell their wheat crop at a
profit instead of selline it on a forced mar-
ket. Other journals last fall may have had
the sense to comprehend this subject as
well as the MILWAUKEE JOURNAL OF COM-
MERCE. Few had the courage to take the
stand which that paper took.
Insulting Italeans.
Charles Warren Stoddard writes from
Venice: "How these Italians do enjoy in-
sunting the servants of the public I Only
the other night a ballet was put on at the
Venice wherein an admirable artist, but a
rather homely woman, made her first ap-
pearance in Venice. There was much ex-
citement in the house in consequence of a.
predsosition on the Fart of some p resent
to prevent the reappearhnce of the lady in
question. It seems that certain members
of the press had demanded of her those
favors that lose their value as soon as
granted, und, upon being indignantly re-
pulsed, they resolved to ruin the en-
gagement of the dancer. Her entrance was
the signal for a most disgraceful up-
roar, that was continued to the very
close of the long ballet. The lady prob-
ably never danced so well before as she
danced that night. Stung with the in-
sults of the baser members of the audience
she surpassed herself. From our seats in
the orchestra we saw the tears streaming
down her face, and to her the hour must
have been one of exquisite agony. Three
times she fainted behind the scenes but
recovered in season to renew her efforts to
please with a grace and spirit I have never
seen surpassed. Inasmuch as at the! bal-
let continued to the close and she had not
positively been hissed from the stage the
manager could not break his engagement
with her. She appeared on the second
night, and the miserable wretches who
were so noisome dn the evening previous
having exhausted themselves her vcoeoa
was unqualified, and she is now dancing
before delighted and more appreciative
audiences."
An Actress's Repartee.
A writer gives the following example of
Augustine Brohan's powers of repartee:
"One evening she was sitting in the foyer,
recruiting herself with a cup of consomme,
and surrounded, as usual, by a levee of ad-
mirers, among whom was Desnoyers, then
stage-mnanager of the  Theatre Francais.
'Augustine, said he, 'you have always an
answer for everything, but I intend to
puzzle you. I will give you a sentence,
in which I will introduce the
name of a town. You are to
reply in one word, which must not
onilybe apropos to what I say, but must
also signify a city or town, in France or
out of it. I am not particular. Ca-ve-t-il?'
'Ca-va,' said the actress. 'Bien,' pursued
the rebugsaur. 'Commencons. IIpa it
Sue to aimes le boutilon?' 'ElbeuP' (et
Ilbceuf), replied Augustine, without mov-
ing a muscle. 'Bravo!' cried the delighted
circle. Desnoycer looked rather cres~t-
fallen, but, recovering himself continued
in a pathetic tone, 'Si tu me joucs de ces
tours-la, j'en mourrail' This time Au-
gustine rose from her seat. stared him full
mn the face, and exclaimed with perfectly
annihilating emphasis, 'Penis, gucux!'
(Perig ueux.)"
THE WIsco11Sin LunMBEB2xaN will be
largely improved during it~s coming
year. No lumberman can afford to
be without this publication.
476